The U.S. Navy‘s Great Green Fleet.
On January 20, 2016, a sunny San Diego day with calm ocean waters and blue skies, the U.S. Navy made history with the launch of the Great Green Fleet — a year-long deployment that demonstrates how the Navy is leading the nation in a shift to renewable, and more reliable, energy sources.
Honestly, I expected more of a hoopla and a media frenzy. In my mind, I was standing on the deck of history, watching our leaders make smart choices for America that would be applauded by the world! I was honored to be there.
Clean energy specialists stood idly behind booths, eager to explain:
· The science behind camelina seed and algae biofuels,
· How kinetic energy can be captured on Marines to power their own communication devices,
· Why portable solar blankets offer a competitive edge in the field, and
· Why a cleaner, greener Navy makes fiscal and strategic sense.
The crowd was strikingly small, with no national news teams covering this pivotal moment in our nation’s history. (All the more important that you share this blog with your friends to help get the word out!) A handful of local media reporters stuck to themselves for the most part, whispering about the cost to taxpayers and how a local Congressman had recently called for the resignation of the Secretary of the Navy over his handling of gender issues.
The most impressive standout was clearly the ships themselves — the USS Stockdale and the USS John C. Stennis, where sailors lined the decks waiting to cast off. A Navy band played American anthems, awakening a pride that used to swell in my heart every morning in elementary school, when I sang the National Anthem with my right hand over my heart.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus wore his green tie to the sending-off ceremony at the Naval Base on Coronado Island. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, two members of Congress and Navy brass smiled and patted one another on the back. It was clear that they had a lot of good news that they were proud to report.
Having toured clean energy projects around the world, I feel confident in reporting that the Navy is leading the charge on renewables and energy efficiency in the U.S., achieving energy reduction goals in record time under Secretary Mabus’ aegis. Not only is the Navy cleaner and greener than the force was seven years ago (pre-Mabus), but it is innovating and developing the energy products of tomorrow, with partners like Tom Vilsack, the Secretary of Agriculture, the state of California, the private sector and ideas from the rank and file of the Navy and Marine Corp. themselves.
How is the Navy going green?
1. Marines are now carrying Solar Power Blankets to recharge their batteries and communications. According to Secretary Mabus, this saves a company of Marines 700 pounds of batteries. With these blankets, the Marines can make energy anywhere that they are, making them less reliant on convoys.
2. Ships are switching to LED lighting. This saves 20,000 gallons of fuel every year (source: @USNavy).
3. Aircraft and the naval fleet will run on up to 50% biofuel. The cost of the fuel for the launch of the Great Green Fleet was just $2.05 gallon, a data point that Secretary Mabus emphasized repeatedly. This fuel blend has been used successfully in tests for the last four years, according to multiple naval sources. With oil prices so low, the blend used at the launch of the Great Green Fleet was 90/10. This was for economical reasons because one of the mandates of the Navy is to purchase cost competitive fuels, and have the flexibility of choice, which allows that to be possible. Secretary Mabus is working to ensure that our armed forces are not vulnerable to volatile, or potentially volatile, regions for our energy.
4. Shipboard Energy Dashboards and smart usage promote energy conservation. Engineers are provided with an energy conservation instruction manual. Commander Orchard-Hays, who heads up the environmental readiness division of the United States Fleet Forces Command, described how sailors are making it standard procedure to shut down systems that are not needed, just like you turn off lights when you leave home.
5. Hybrid engines. Makin Island, a naval amphibious ship, runs on diesel for speeds over 12 knots, and electric for speeds under. According to Secretary Mabus, on a recent deployment, the ship’s crew brought back almost half of its fuel, while also staying out 44 days longer than they could have using only a standard gasoline engine.
6. Electric Vehicles. Through a partnership with the State of California, the U.S. Navy is purchasing 400 electric vehicles, as part of their goal to reduce the Navy’s dependence on oil.
7. Alternative Energy. In 2012, President Obama said that, by 2020, the U.S. Navy would buy half of its 2 GW shore-based energy from alternative sources. According to Secretary Mabus, the Navy has already achieved that goal. At the launch of the Great Green Fleet, Mabus reported that, “Onshore today, we’ve got, in the ground and in procurement, 1.1 GW of alternative power for our bases. We did it five years early.”
Secretary Mabus stressed repeatedly that the Navy is going green because it gives our nation a strategic advantage, increases our options for fuel and offers greater protection for our Marines and naval fleet. According to Mabus, “At the height of the war in Afghanistan, we were losing one Marine — either killed or wounded — for every 50 convoys of fuel. That’s way too high a price to pay.”
Despite all the cost competitiveness of clean energy, the lives saved, the benefits of not being overly reliant on the Middle East for our oil and the vision of a stronger, more independent armed forces in the century to come, there are naysayers. On November 27, 2015, in a Washington Post Op-Ed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called President Obama’s Clean Energy agenda reckless and “likely illegal.”
For the naysayers, Secretary Mabus had one final comment, saying:
The Navy has always been a leader when it comes to energy. We went from sailing to coal in the middle of the 19th century. We went from coal to oil in the middle of the 20th century. We pioneered the use of nuclear. Every single time, there were naysayers. “You can’t do that! You’re trading one thing that is free — the wind — for something that costs you money — coal. You’re trading all of these coal stations around the world for an unproven source of fuel — oil. You will never make nuclear power small enough or safe enough to put on a submarine.” Every single time, they were dead wrong. And they’re wrong again this time.
When President Theodore Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet was launched in 1907, the event was front page headlines. While most media failed to attend and report this historic day as headline news, future generations might well honor today as one of the most monumental moments in naval history.
Go Navy. Bravo sailors and marines.
